


Ready For This

by Latch_is_what_I_want_to_be_called



Series: Thominho Week 2016 [2]
Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Day 2, First time moving away, Firsts, Homesickness, M/M, Minho is really nice, Someday, The other characters don't make a huge appearance, This will most likely be continued, Thomas is nervous, Thominho Week 2016, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 12:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7267297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Latch_is_what_I_want_to_be_called/pseuds/Latch_is_what_I_want_to_be_called
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Happy Thominho Week Day 2!</p><p>Thomas and Teresa are moving into a house with a bunch of other people.  Thomas is nervous.  But things start to look up after meeting Minho.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready For This

**Author's Note:**

> So here is my Day 2 work! HAPPY THOMINHO WEEK! This will most likely be continued. I don't know when, but it most likely will. But for now, please enjoy!

    Thomas was sure he was ready for this, but now, he’s having second thoughts.  

    It’s his first time moving away from home, and while he’s moving away with his best friend, Teresa, it doesn’t actually help all that much.  This is his _family_ he’s leaving, and while the drive isn’t that far, it’s still a half-hour drive, and he is still _leaving them_.

    It all started when Teresa’s friend, Aris, told them about the place he was living in: _“It’s a_ huge _house that fits so many people! And everyone there is really nice.  There is room for you and Thomas if you’d like to room there.  Also, the college is really close so you’d have no problem getting to your classes on time.”_

    The college being close by is what got them to make their final decision.  Thomas and Teresa are both enrolled at the local college, so being really close to it would help a lot when it comes to getting there, since transportation can be an issue at times.  Plus, this was the fastest way to get a place to stay -- no searching, no paperwork, just packing up and moving in.

    Of course, they do have to help pay for some things, like bills and groceries, but at least, according to Aris, there are a lot of them, so nothing is too expensive when they all pitch in.

    The only problem is neither Thomas nor Teresa has met anyone living at the house besides Aris.  And now Thomas is freaking out.

    What if he doesn’t like most of the people? What if they don’t like _him_? What if he messes something up? What if he embarrasses himself?

    Thomas shakes himself out of his thoughts.  He closes his suitcase that lies on his bed and zips it up.  He takes a look around his room that now barely has anything aside from his bed and a couple dressers.  He sighs.  He’s really going to miss this place.

    He picks his suitcase off the bed, picks up his backpack from the floor and slings it over one shoulder, then grabs his other suitcase that was also lying on the floor and makes his way out the door, managing to shut it behind him.  

    He somehow manages to get down the stairs and sets his bags by the door with the other suitcase that was already there.  Thomas’s parents come in from the living room. Thomas’s dad is a tall man with straight brown hair and brown eyes, and Thomas’s mother is a slightly tall woman with brown curly hair and light hazel eyes.  Thomas definitely inherited the brown hair, though he inherited more straight hair from his father, and he inherited the height, being a little taller than the average male.  His eyes are a little mix of both his parents; his eyes are a little brown with a light golden color, making his eyes practically glow in the sunlight, according to Teresa.

    Thomas’s mother has tears in her eyes and his dad has his arm around his wife.  Thomas feels his heart break.

    “Mom, please don’t cry.  It’s not like we’ll never see each other again,” Thomas tries to console her.  

    His mom nods.  “I know, but it’s still hard.” She sniffles, and her husband tightens his hold, trying to offer more comfort.

    “Son,” he tells Thomas, “just know that if you need anything, we’re always here.  We’ll be around to help you no matter what.”

    Thomas nods, tears now in his eyes.  “I know, Dad.  Thanks.”

    Thomas and his mother hug, tears leaking out of his mom’s eyes and one tear making its way down Thomas’s face.

    “I love you, sweetie.  Take care of yourself,” Thomas’s mom says through her tears.

    When Thomas speaks, he’s all choked up.  “I will, Mom.  I love you, too.”

    They let go of each other when a car horn beeps twice.

    “That’ll be them,” Thomas says, referring to Teresa and Aris.  Teresa was picked up before him in Aris’s car, and now it’s his turn to be picked up.

    “I’ll help you with your bags,” Thomas’s father says.  He picks up two of Thomas’s suitcases while Thomas picks up his last suitcase and backpack.  Thomas opens the door and sees Aris’s car right away.  Aris is obviously in the driver’s seat and Teresa’s in the passenger seat, meaning he’ll have to sit in the back.  The window is down, and Aris calls out, “Just put the suitcases in the trunk.  It’s unlocked.  There should be room.”

    Thomas and his dad move to the very back of the car -- Thomas’s mother stays by the porch -- where Thomas opens the trunk and he and his dad put his suitcases in.  Thomas decides to hold on to his backpack, deeming it unnecessary to put it with his and Teresa’s suitcases.  He closes the trunk, then turns to his dad, who pulls him in for a strong hug.

    “Be safe, son,” his father says.

    Thomas’s voice breaks when he responds with, “I will, Dad.  I love you.”

    “I love you, too.”  Thomas’s dad, who’s still taller than Thomas, is able to kiss his son on the top of the head with no trouble.  Thomas holds back even more tears.

    He’s spent nineteen years with his parents.  And in one day, that’s all going to be gone.

    His dad releases him.  “Okay, we’ll see you soon.  But now I think you need to get to your friends.”

    Thomas gives a watery smile and nods.  His dad pats him on the back, then moves back to the porch to stand with his wife.

    Thomas watches him move up the driveway and to the porch, where his dad stands with his mom.  He takes a deep breath, then gets in the car and puts on his seatbelt.

    Aris restarts the car and pulls away from the sidewalk.  Thomas watches his parents from outside the window, and when they start waving, he waves back until they turn a corner and he can’t see them anymore.  He sighs and turns away from the window.

    Teresa twists around to see him with some difficulty since he is sitting right behind her.  “Hey, you okay?”

    Thomas sighs again and replies, “Not really.  But I will be.”  He gives a small smile, one that Teresa returns with a small smile of her own.

    “Don’t worry, man, you’ll love it there.  Trust me, everyone’s really nice.  Well, Gally can be an ass, but don’t worry, he’s like that to everyone,” Aris says.

    “Okay,” Thomas says quietly.  There’s a lot of doubt in his voice, but who could blame him for being cautious?

    For the rest of the car ride, he stays silent, sometimes listening to Aris and Teresa talking but never putting in his own opinion.

    Then they arrive.

    Thomas’s eyes widen when he sees the house.  Aris wasn’t exaggerating.  It’s _huge_! It was a faded yellow color with plenty of windows and three garage doors.  Aris told them it was because most of them had a car and needed somewhere to put it.  It also looks like there’s a huge backyard.  Some of his nerves start to seep away and excitement starts trickling in.

    Aris opens the far left garage door and carefully parks his car in between two other ones.  He stops the car and they all unbuckle themselves and carefully open their doors to get out.  There are seven cars in the garage.

    “Some of us don’t have a car, so sometimes we just borrow someone else’s.  We can also use someone else’s if our own car breaks down or needs repairs or something,” Aris says.  “So yeah, this is the garage.  We also use it to store a few things, obviously.  And we do keep some food here.”

    Thomas can see where a few things are stored like Christmas and Halloween decorations.  Thomas also sees a couple of pantries, a fridge and a freezer.

    “This is the boring part, though.  Let me introduce you to the rest and we’ll show you the rest of the house! We’ll get your stuff later.” Aris then moves to a door that leads into the house.  He opens it and they walk into a laundry room.  There are three washing machines and three dryers.

    Teresa whistles.  “That’s a lot of machines.”

    “Well, we have a lot of people,” Aris responds.

    Teresa shrugs.  “True.”

    “Okay, so obviously this is the laundry room, another boring part but essential to washing and actually having nice clothes.  Moving on.”

    They slide the door open and step out into a kitchen, Aris sliding the door closed behind them, saying that when the machines get turned on, it gets loud, so they close the door so the noise doesn’t disturb them too much.

    “Because there are so many of us, it’s hard to keep track of who has what to do.  Since it’s a Saturday, I don’t know who’s doing what.  Everyone sort of does their own thing.  Sometimes we do things together, like watch movies or play video games or help each other study and all that.”

    “What about chores around the house and stuff?” Teresa asks, something Thomas is grateful for because he didn’t even think to ask that.

    “Well, we rotate the chores every week.  Someone does the trash one week, then someone else does it the next week.  Same for the dishes and all that.  When it comes to cooking, Frypan does most of it, but we do help with a few things.  Oh, and over here on the fridge, we have a chart-thing.” Aris gestures toward a little magnetic whiteboard that hangs on the fridge.  “This chart is for writing down where you are if you’re not in the house, just in case someone’s looking for you.  You don’t _have_ to do it, but it is helpful.”

    _This is a lot of stuff to remember._  Thomas is sure that Aris could talk all day long if he wanted.

    “So if you follow me here,” Aris leads them to a dining room with a huge table, “we have the dining room.  Sometimes it’s used, like if we have guests and people like that, but for the most part, people just eat wherever they want.  Last I checked, everyone was in their room, so we might not see anyone until I tell them to get their butts down here to introduce themselves.”

    He then takes them to the many places around the house.  He shows them the living room, the “family” room, the gaming room where they keep all their games and stuff, and the many bathrooms.  He was right, no one is out of their room at this point.

    “After everyone gets down here and introductions are done, I’ll show you the bedrooms.  I won’t take you inside every bedroom -- privacy and stuff -- but I’ll tell you who stays in what room in case you need to talk to them for some reason.”

    Aris takes them back to the spacious living room, where there are two large couches and three armchairs and a couple of little tables with one large coffee table.  “So just take whatever seat you want, and I’ll go get the others.” He rushes off upstairs -- there are three floors to this place, not including the basement.  Thomas is seriously amazed at this place.

    They sit close to each other on one of the couches.

    “So it’s a nice place so far,” Teresa says, trying to spark a conversation.

    “Yeah, but we still haven’t met any of the people yet, besides Aris.  That’s what I’m most worried about.”  Thomas fiddles with his fingers. 

    “Hey,” Teresa says softly, gaining Thomas’s attention.  “There’s no reason to freak out.  If it doesn’t work out, we could always find some other place.”

    Thomas sighs and nods.  “I guess.”

    Teresa nudges him.  “Cheer up.” She looks up when she hears a bunch of feet hitting the floor.  She looks back at Thomas.  “Here we go.”

    Thomas takes a deep breath.   _Here we go indeed._

    The first one to come in is Aris, followed by a dark-skinned man, followed by a blond-haired man with a limp, followed by ten more people.  The last person to come in was a tall, buff Asian man who catches Thomas’s eye instantly.  But the moment the man looks at him, Thomas looks away.

    “Okay!” Aris starts enthusiastically.  “Let’s start introductions.  Just say your name and age.  You already know my name, but my age is nineteen.  Alby, you go next.”

    The dark-skinned boy who came in right after Aris raises his eyebrows.  “All right.  Well, my name’s Alby and I’m twenty-one.  Newt, you’re turn.”

    The blond one smirks and says, “I’m Newt, I’m twenty years old.”  Thomas notes he has an accent.

    “I’m Gally,” a black-haired boy speaks up suddenly.  “I’m twenty-one.”

    One by one they introduce themselves.  Frypan, Zart, Winston, Sonya, Harriet, Rachel, Clint, and Jeff.

    The eye-catcher goes last.  “I’m Minho.  My age is twenty.”

    _Minho._  At least Thomas now has a name for the man.

    “Teresa?” Aris asks.

    Teresa smiles.  “Well, my name’s Teresa, and I’m nineteen.”

    “Sweet.  Thomas?” Aris says.

    Thomas’s heart speeds up a bit.  He rubs his hands together.  “Well, um, my name’s Thomas, and, um, I’m also nineteen.”

    “Okay.” Aris claps his hands together.  “Now, when it comes to rooming: Alby rooms with Newt, Winton’s with Zart, Harriet’s with Sonya, Clint’s with Jeff, I’m with Frypan, Gally’s alone, Teresa will room with Rachel, and Thomas will room with Minho.  Okay? Okay!”

    Thomas’s eyebrows rise up.  So he’s going to be rooming with Minho, huh? He looks at the Asian, who looks back at him.  Minho cracks a small smile, one that Thomas attempts to return.

    He really hopes this goes better than he thinks it will.  He hasn’t even truly met Minho and he’s already nervous about him.

    “So how about you two go get settled in?” Aris asks Thomas and Teresa.

    “Sure,” Teresa says.  Thomas just nods.

    “Well, Rachel, Minho, mind taking them to your rooms?” Aris asks.

    A girl with brown hair that falls just past her shoulders steps up to Teresa.  “Just follow me,” she says with a smile.  Teresa smiles back at her, gets off the couch, and goes upstairs with the other girl, leaving Thomas on the couch alone, until Minho steps up to him.

    Minho says nothing, just nods and gestures for Thomas to follow him, and Thomas does.  Minho takes him to the third floor, down the hall a few feet, and then to the right.  When he walks in, there’s a bed to his left, and a bed to his right.  A window behind the beds faces out into the backyard.  The bed on the right is messy -- Minho’s.  The bed on the left is neatly made -- his.

    “So, obviously the bed over there is yours.” Minho gestures to the left.  “There’s room in the closet” -- Thomas just noticed the closet on the right -- “and there should be some extra space in the dressers for your stuff.  Speaking of your stuff, where is it?” Minho raises an eyebrow.

    Thomas just realized it’s still in the trunk of Aris’s car.  “Oh, uh Aris told us to leave it in the car.  I guess it’s --”

    Thomas is cut off by a knock on the door.  He spins around to see Newt and Alby standing there with his stuff.  “-- in here now,” Thomas finishes.

    “Aris told us your stuff was still in his car.  He asked us to bring it to you,” Newt says as he and Alby enter the room to deliver the stuff.

    “Oh, uh, thanks,” Thomas stutters.  “Just put it on the bed, please.”

    Alby and Newt put the stuff on the bed.  Alby nods at Thomas and Minho, then leaves.  Newt lingers to say, “You better be nice to him, Minho,” then leaves.

    Thomas sees Minho roll his eyes.  Thomas just doesn’t say anything, and instead chooses to try and unpack.  Minho helps him a little by telling him where he should put his clothes and other items until they can organize it more.  When that’s finished, Thomas sits on his bed with a sigh.  He’s sighing a lot lately.  

    Minho looks over at him.  “You okay?”

    Thomas looks up, then nods.  “Yeah, just not used to this, I guess.”

    Minho nods.  “First time leaving home?”

    Thomas just nods and looks at his hands.  They’re both silent for a few minutes.  Then, Minho speaks up again.  “Do you want to go for a run?”

    Thomas looks up again in surprise.  “What?”

    “Do you want to go for a run?” Minho repeats.  “They usually make me feel better.  I’d understand if you said no.  Not a lot of people do exercise these days.”

    Thomas thinks.  He used to go on runs every morning back at home.  Why stop now? So Thomas nods and says, “Sure.  I’d really like that.”

    Minho raises his eyebrows in surprise.  “Really?”

    Thomas nods again.  “Yeah.  I used to go on runs all the time back home.  I don’t see why I shouldn’t continue doing that here.”

    “Okay then.”  Minho gets up to get his running stuff and Thomas does the same.  In ten minutes, they’re standing in the front yard doing stretches before they start running.  Five minutes later, they’re off.

    It’s a nice run.  Minho takes the lead since Thomas doesn’t really know his way around yet.  They run for an hour, then head back to the house.  By the time they get back, they’re both a little out of breath.

    “I’m impressed,” Minho says after a minute.

    Thomas frowns.  Minho continues, “No one in that house can manage to complete my runs without having to take a break in the middle of it.  They can barely keep up with me.  But you were practically right next to me.  You probably would’ve been if you knew your way around better.”

    Thomas smiles shyly at the praise.  “Thanks.”

    Minho smiles.  “No problem.  Now, let’s get inside and shower and change and all that.  I think they’re going to be serving dinner soon.”

    They get inside and take turns taking a shower in their shared bathroom.  After they’re done, Thomas lies on his bed, reading, and Minho is lying on his own bed playing a game on his phone.  Another hour later, dinner is ready.  They decide Thomas and Teresa moving in is a special occasion, so they eat in the dining room.  Thomas sits in between Minho and Teresa, with Minho on his left and Teresa on his right.  The dinner is amazing.  Everyone praises Frypan for his amazing cooking skills.  Thomas starts getting more and more comfortable as dinner goes on.  He gets to know some of the other people there, but he mostly talks to Minho.  They smile at each other and laugh about the funny stories they tell each other.  Thomas is really starting to get comfortable around Minho.  He tells himself that the feeling in his chest is nothing -- that he’s just a little homesick or something.

    After dinner, Thomas and Teresa agree they should get to bed early since it’s been a long day.  Thomas gets the things he needs, then proceeds to get ready for bed.  When he’s done brushing his teeth and using the bathroom, he sees Minho lying on his bed, which startles him and makes him jump a little since Minho wasn’t there before.

    “I know I’m hot, but don’t allow me to give you a heart attack.”  Minho’s smirking from behind a comic book.

    Thomas glares a little.  “Ha ha.”

    Minho chuckles and Thomas drops his glare.  He moves over to his own bed and gets in and tries to get comfortable.  Minho frowns at him.  “Aren’t you going to turn off the light?”

    Thomas looks at him.  “But you’re still reading.  And you need light to see when you’re getting ready for bed.”

    Minho rolls his eyes.  “I can just use a little flashlight or something.  Here.”  Minho gets up, walking over to a dresser, grabs a flashlight that was sitting on the dresser, turns it on, turns off the main light, then lies back down and uses the flashlight to read.  “See?”

    Thomas raises an eyebrow.  He sighs in defeat and says, “Okay.”  He turns over and attempts to fall asleep.  It seems like it takes eternity, and Minho actually manages to get ready and fall asleep before Thomas, but at some point, he does fall asleep.

    It doesn’t last long.  

    He wakes up around three in the morning, crying.  He was dreaming about being a kid again and playing with his family.  Definitely a severe case of homesickness, Thomas thinks.  He sits up and looks around until he finds the tissues.  They’re across the room on a dresser.  He looks over at Minho, who’s still asleep.  He really needs a tissue -- crying always makes his nose stuffy and runny -- but he doesn’t want to wake Minho up.  He decides to just try to get across the room carefully, and if Minho stirs, he’ll just suck it up and go back to bed.

    He throws back the covers and steps out of bed.  No signs of waking from Minho.  He starts walking, stumbling in the darkness and because he’s still so tired.  Unfortunately, that means anything can happen when it comes to Thomas’s legs and feet.  He ends up accidentally kicking the end of his bed and tripping over one of his bags that was sitting on the floor at the end of the bed and falls to the ground at an odd angle.  His first thought is _God, that hurt!_ Then he thinks about the people downstairs and hopes he didn’t wake anyone up.  But then, before he can think about anything else, someone says his name in a groggy tone.

    “Thomas?” _Minho._

    Thomas tries to stand up in a rush, but hisses in pain when it comes to his right foot, which is what hit the bed.  “I’m okay, Minho, just tripped.”  He hates how his voice cracks at some places.  He hopes Minho just thinks it’s from the tiredness.

    “Why are you up?” Minho asks.  Thomas doesn’t know how to answer that without giving away his homesickness.

    He’s probably been silent for too long because Minho gets out of bed and turns on the light.  Thomas shields his eyes against the sudden brightness, but they soon adjust.  When he looks again, Minho is coming over to him.

    “Hey, you okay?” Minho kneels down next to him.  “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” He holds out a hand, which Thomas takes, and helps Thomas back to the bed to sit him down, Thomas limping somewhat on his right foot.  “Do you mind if I check that out for you?”

    Thomas, somewhat surprised, looks up.  Minho looks genuinely concerned, and that’s what prompts Thomas to tell him that it’s okay for him to check.  Minho checks his right foot gently, pressing lightly here and there to make sure there’s no serious damage.

    “It looks like it’s okay,” Minho says, and lets his foot go.  “You’ll most likely have a bruise there, and it will probably hurt for a few days, but you should be fine.”

    Thomas nods.  “Thank you.”

    Minho nods as well.  “No problem.  But you still haven’t answered my question about why you were up.”  Minho raises an eyebrow.

    “Oh, um . . .” _Come on, Thomas, think!_

    “You were crying, weren’t you?”

    Thomas looks up at Minho, shocked.  “How did you know?”

    “Your eyes are red and your nose is, too.  You also have tear tracks on your cheeks.”

    Thomas rubs at his cheeks, frustrated about being figured out.

    “Is it homesickness?”

    Thomas nods to answer Minho’s question, looking down.  He doesn’t like it when people see him cry.  Even when he was little and cried he’d always try to hide it from his parents.

    “It’s okay to cry, you know.  It’s hard to deal with.  Trust me, I know.  Even I cried when I first left home.”

    Thomas’s eyes widen when hears Minho confess that.  Minho doesn’t seem the type to cry at all, much less tell anybody about it.

    “It’ll get better.  I promise.  But I’ll tell you this, tiredness isn’t going to help.  You need sleep.”  Minho rubs Thomas’s arm gently, trying to offer some comfort while not looking awkward.

    Thomas sniffles.  “I was just trying to get a tissue," he croaks out.  He nods toward the tissue box across the room.

    Minho looks, then goes over to get the tissue that Thomas got hurt trying to get.  Thomas missed the hand on his arm instantly.  Then Minho comes back.  “Here,” he says handing Thomas the tissue.  Thomas takes it gratefully, then blows his nose.  It sounds similar to a goose honking, and Thomas can tell Minho’s stifling his laughter.  

    Thomas rolls his eyes.  “Shut up.”

    Minho doesn’t reply.  When Thomas is done, he throws the tissue into the trash bin that sits in between the two beds.

    “Okay, back to bed,” Minho announces.  Thomas nods and climbs under the covers, then lets out a surprised squeak when Minho climbs in with him after turning off the light.

    “What are you doing?” Thomas whispers harshly, not wanting to yell and wake everybody up.

   Minho speaks while getting settled.  “When I got homesick, I was alone.  It wasn’t a good feeling.  No one should be alone when they’re homesick.  So, I’m not letting you be alone.  Now hurry up and get comfortable; I want to go back to sleep.”

    Thomas blinks, not expecting that.  But he does as he’s told and gets comfortable.  When he’s settled on his left side, Minho turns onto his right side and throws an arm over Thomas.  They both adjust until they’re perfectly comfortable.

    “‘Night Thomas,” Minho says.  “If you need anything, just wake me up, okay?”

    “Okay,” Thomas says, grateful that Minho is such a nice roommate.  “Thank you.  Good night.”

    Minho’s arm only tightens in response.

    Thomas thought he wasn’t ready for this.  But now, with Minho supporting him, and having Teresa in a similar boat, and a bunch of nice people ready to welcome him, he definitely feels ready for this.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys! Drop a review if you'd like -- alert me to any mistakes, that would be awesome. Until then, I will see you guys for Day 3! :D


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